Opening of direct branch signals their intention to become market leader in the country

South Africa: New Holland wants firmer hand on the tiller

New Holland Agriculture, part of the CNH Industrial Group, has decided to take a firmer hand in their South African business through opening a direct branch which will be based in Centurion, Tshwane. The reason was summed up by Federico Bellotto, business director of New Holland South Africa: “We are number one in Africa and the Middle East – we’re not number one here. I think we deserve to be number one here. We have the product offering, we have the service, we have the heritage, the credibility, the history.”

The T4.95F tractor for orchard and vineyard work

South Africa currently represents 26% of the tractor market sales for New Holland in the European, Middle Eastern and African region, which makes up 54% of the company’s revenues. New Holland is the market leader in grape harvesters both globally and in South Africa. According to Carlo Lambro, brand president of New Holland Agriculture, six out of every ten grape harvesters sold globally are of the New Holland Braud range.

In South Africa, particularly the Western Cape, where around ten units are sold annually, the favoured grape harvester models are the Braud 8030L and the Braud 9060L.

The Braud 8030L grape harvester

Fundamental to their presence in South Africa will be an effort to increase customer loyalty and the credibility of the brand. It signals their intention of continuity in the market. “To be close to farmers we will have a fully dedicated team here,” explains Bellotto. “Our footprint will be the independent dealer network that was here before, more or less, around 80%. We have already hired more than twenty local people from different sources. We are also investing with a specific graduate programme that has been leveraging some governmental opportunities, so we’re trying to integrate our presence more and more according to local legislation.”

Bellotto continues: “We will have our own logistics pad 60km inland from Durban, and we have our own independent partner, OneLogix, at the pad itself and for inland distribution. We’ll have a very competitive delivery time. We can move a combine harvester in a maximum three working days’ time from Durban to Cape Town. We’ll have our own warehouse parts depot in Centurion. At the logistics pad, units will be coming from across the world. The units coming from India will come containerised and assembled directly here at our pad in Durban - it’s what we call a semi-knockdown operation.”

Expansion to the rest of southern Africa is considered as a possible future second phase to the project.

“The importers did an extremely good job. Now it’s time to add a little bit more of a New Holland presence in the market,” says Alessandro Maritano, vice-president for New Holland’s European, Middle East and African (EMEA) region. “We come here with a lot of expectation, but also a lot of heritage and capacity to be innovative and to satisfy the needs of our customers.”